Love is a Funny Thing
by Shabambi
Summary: I suck at summaries, but basically, 10 years ago, Claire and her family moved away from Mineral Town. Claire comes back when she was 28 and reunites with old friends. Doctor Trent loves her but fears she loves someone from the town she moved to.


**AN: OK. So this is my first story. Ever. I have read a lot of fanfiction over the years, and decided the other day that I was going to actually write a story. I was reading a Claire/Doctor Trent story the other day and it had a very sad ending. I thought that they should have a happier one. So voila! Here is my story(:**

**Also, if anyone actually decides to read this, could you please tell me how it was? I don't care if there are super rude reviews or super nice reviews, though I would prefer no one saying to give up on writing because I suck. However, if you feel you must write that, by all means, go ahead.**

**Love, Shabambi**

**PS: Most of this story, as of right now, is told in Trent's POV, but if some chapters are better without his POV, I will let you know. This one is in Claire's.**

**Clarice J. Smith**

Ten years. It was ten years ago as of last week. Ten years since my family moved to some random town. Most people just call this cluster of islands Island of Happiness. It was awful. Not only did I have to move and leave my friends behind, but I was moving to a whole different part of the world. Ok not really. It was just a boat ride away. But it didn't stop there. Then we had to drive to an airport. _Then _we had to fly for many many hours only to end up smack dab in the middle of the ocean. Nice.

I missed my life back in Mineral Town. John got over the loss of his friends rather quickly, though he was only eight when we left and he didn't have many kids around his age to play with. The only boy around his age was Harris, the mayors boy, and even then he was four years older. And the only kids younger than John were May and Stu. However, May just turned one when we left, and Stu was almost two.

Don't get me wrong, though. I made friends in this strange town, but most of the people there knew each other since preschool and I felt out of the loop. I did, however, get a job at the local diner. That's where I learned how to cook most of the foods I have always wanted to cook. It made me happy that I could please this little town of people. In the winter, however, most people didn't want to eat at the diner, for the majority of the food was meant for the other seasons. That's when I suggested making soup for the people who still came by.

Boy was that a great idea! The diner was busy for the rest of the winter, as I struggled to get out my homemade soups. All of the soup I made were from recipes back home. Beef, chicken noodle, vegetable, and my personal favorite, Herb Stew. They went flying out the door. We even hired this pink haired boy, Elliot, to deliver soup to the townsfolk who couldn't get out to pick it up themselves.

Anyway, back to me wallowing in self pity. After ten years, I finally went up to my parents and told them that I was tired of this tiny island and that I was leaving to go back to mineral town. They understood right away why I felt cooped up, and allowed me to use the money I saved for the past ten years to but a boat and plane ticket back to Mineral Town.

So here I am. Ta-dah!

I walked over to the house that was just off of the beach. Oh Zack. He was my dads best friend, but he felt more like a uncle to me. I banged on the door. No one answered. I checked my watch. 10:35 am. Zack should be home still. Plus it's a Sunday. Nothing ever happens on Sunday's except for festivals. I banged again.

"Unless you are Popuri or Rick, go away. We don't open until 11:00."

"Oh but sir! It's the middle of Autumn and it's rather cold outside. Please, sir, could you let me in? I'm hungry and tired from a full two days travel." I said in my best poor sickly young girl voice. _I should totally win an Oscar for that performance._ I thought to myself as I heard Zack sigh and open the door. He was rubbing his head as if he had a headache and kept his eyes closed.

"Fine. But I want you out of here by tomorrow morning, do you hear?"

"Yes, sir."

I rushed inside with my bags. Then I noticed there was a man in a funny multicolored hat staring at me. I laughed and waved at him. He was about to say something when I ran over to him.

"Hi Won!" I started. Won was my favorite cousin on my mothers side. He was fun unlike the others which are snobby and rude. "Shh… don't say a thing. I want to see how long I can keep this poor runaway girl who is starving and tired going before Zack realizes it's me."

Won nodded understanding.

Surprisingly I was able to keep this up until Zack got home from picking up the shipments. He walked in the doors and threw all of the stuff he collected into the corner of his room so that he can ship it out first thing tomorrow morning. I laughed at something Won had said and Zack abruptly turned around.

"Claire?" he asked surprised. "Claire! What are you doing here? _When_ did you get here?"

I laughed. "Oh Uncle Zack. You always were the gullible one. I've been here all day. Well since about 10:30 this morning. You thought I was a little girl who was starving and tired. You didn't open your eyes once for the next six hours so all I had to do was pretend to be the little girl." I turned to Won. "Haha I told you. That was most definitely an Oscar winning performance."

Zack looked really upset that he didn't realize it was me the entire time, but quickly got over that and gave me a huge hug.

The door chimed and a young lady, perhaps around 25 or 26, walked in.

"Oh!" she exclaimed. "I'm terribly sorry for interrupting this little moment, but the Doctor needs the herbs you said would be here today."

"Right!" Won said, glad to get away from me and Zack. "here ya go. Oh! How terribly rude of me for not introducing you guys. This here is my cousin Clarice. Claire, this is Elli."

Elli dropped her bag of herbs. I spit out the water Zack had just given me.

"Elli?" I coughed.

"Claire?"


End file.
